[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 4 (Monday, January 24, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S139-S140]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           IN HONOR OF DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.'S BIRTHDAY

  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, I ask that this statement be inserted 
in the proper place in the Record.
  I rise today to honor the life and legacy of Reverend Dr. Martin 
Luther King, Jr.
  While I participated in an event commemorating the life of Dr. King 
at the Morning Star Community Tabernacle Church in Linden, New Jersey, 
I felt it was important to pay tribute to the life and legacy of this 
extraordinary American on the first legislative day of this 109th 
Congress.
  The impact of Dr. King's life, actions and deeds is just as great 
today as it was 36 years ago, when his life was taken from us. Dr. King 
accomplished so much in his short life; he was a pastor, civil rights 
activist and leader, Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Time magazine's Man 
of the Year, and in many ways, the emancipator of all Americans.
  Dr. King's adherence to nonviolence in the pursuit of social justice 
left an indelible mark on our nation's history and conscience. Clearly, 
much progress has been made in the struggle for civil rights, equality 
and social justice. We rightly pay tribute to the civil rights 
accomplishments to date, and we rightly attribute much of that progress 
to Dr. King.
  But there is still much to do. And sadly, the current administration 
has had a disappointing record on civil rights and has shown little 
interest in shouldering leadership responsibility on these important 
issues.
  Two years ago, on the week before we celebrated the birthday of Dr. 
King, Jr., President Bush intervened in a case before the United States 
Supreme Court in an effort to destroy affirmative action, which is 
effectively ``equal education rights'' for African Americans and other 
minority groups.
  The case involved the University of Michigan program which used race 
as one factor among many when selecting incoming students. I joined 
other United States Senators in an amicus brief in support of the 
University of Michigan affirmative action program. Thankfully, in its 
first ruling on affirmative action in higher education admissions in 25 
years, the nation's highest court ruled on June 23, 2003, that race can 
be used in university admission decisions. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor 
was the eventual deciding vote in the case, saying that affirmative 
action is still needed in America--but hoped that its days are 
numbered.
  Last year, on Dr. King's 75th birthday, President Bush went to 
Atlanta and laid a wreath at Dr. King's grave. The very next day, 
despite protest from the civil rights community and against the 
expressed will of the Senate, President Bush recess appointed Judge 
Charles Pickering to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
  President Bush cast aside several significant concerns of the African 
American and civil rights community. Some of these concerns included: 
Judge Pickering's support as a State Senator in the 1960s for the 
Mississippi Sovereignty Commission, which was established to prevent 
the implementation of Brown v. Board of Education; Judge Pickering's 
opposition as a legislator and Federal judge to voting rights for 
African Americans; and Judge Pickering's disturbing positions as a 
Federal judge on two of the key protections of equal voting rights for 
all Americans--the one person-one vote

[[Page S140]]

Constitutional doctrine and the Voting Rights Act.
  These are just two examples of a broader indifference President Bush 
has shown to the social, economic, and legal obstacles African-
Americans are forced to overcome in their ongoing effort to achieve 
real equality.
  Affirmative action has proven beneficial in combating past 
discrimination and it remains necessary today. Judge Pickering is just 
one of a host of judicial nominees opposing civil rights President Bush 
has put forth as part of a larger effort to pack the Federal courts 
with ultra-conservative ideologues.
  Each of us must do our part to advance the legacy of Dr. Martin 
Luther King, Jr., and to promote civil rights equality. I will continue 
to provide leadership in the 109th Congress to help minority 
businesses, increase access to education and health care, improve job 
growth, and fight racial profiling.
  I hope that President Bush and the entire Congress will do the same.

                          ____________________